Seeing The Light

Easy Ways To Lighten And Brighten Your Decor

April 05, 1992|BY LISA SKOLNIK.

Shedding what`s heavy is one of the first signs of spring.

For us, it`s as simple as taking off our overcoats and substituting cottons for wools. But for our interiors, it requires more forethought and creativity. Redecorating every time the temperature rises is an impractical proposition, so lightening up living spaces for summer means integrating accessories into already outfitted milieus.

``The idea to take things one way in the winter and another in summer, is certainly not new,`` says Helen Ballard Weeks, who sells accents for the home and garden through her Ballard Designs catalogue.

Merchandise to make this proposition swift and painless exists in every price range and style these days. Weeks sells items that include slipcovers and ``indoor awnings,`` but sources for such effects run the gamut from catalogue houses to home design stores.

And although choice options abound for those who want to instill their homes with a summertime ambience, ``textile treatments`` seem to epitomize the ethic of the seasonal decorator. An expanse of fabric can give anything-from furnishings like sofas and chairs, to light sources like windows and lamps-an airy, yet temporary, new lease on life.

Weeks finds that many of her customers use the neutral light beige slipcovers she sells in her catalogue in the summer months because they

``create almost an absence of color, like a cool calm beach.

Natalie Plummer of Northern Lights finds the same applies to shades.

``People buy lighter neutral lampshades for the summer because it`s truly one of the quickest, easiest and least costly ways to brighten up a room,``

she maintains.

Throwing in an appropriate piece than can fold away in the winter can also finish off a lighter look. Stacy Polich, co-owner of the Bumble Mercantile CO., reports a run on St. Tropez rattan, which folds flat as a board for winter storage.